Tag Archives: children’s books

It’s a small planet. From Mumbai, India an interview with the author (me!)

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Pratham – Read India. Click image for more…

The world wide web can be a scary and unruly place where dark forces lurk.  But, like the moon, that is only one side of it.  The other (and I think bigger) side is shiny and bright and happy and here all paths lead to amazing people and places, both old and new.  And here we are reminded over and over again of the commonalities that we share regardless of color, class, or country.  Commonalities like love, children, books, music, hopes, dreams…  all the really good stuff.

Recently a writer from India asked if I would be willing to do an author interview for his blog, Pebbles in the Still Waters.  How cool is that?  Pop over here for a quick peek.  Namaste, Jaideep!

 

 

Please would you share this? Last free ship day on Amazon and 20% off

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The big day is closing in but there’s  still time to tuck Long Live Earth’s Anniversary Edition under the tree.  Perfect for all those budding environmentalists… and no batteries required!  Happy and safe holidays to all.
Many thanks and warmest wishes, MeighanLLE front:back jpeg

“Horrors! Environmental wacko nonsense… yuck!” Another favorite review.

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Magilla_GorillaThis is one of my favorite Long Live Earth reviews.   I get such a kick out of it:
1.0 out of 5 stars Horrors!, July 10, 2002
By Sherry Poppins
This review is from: Long Live Earth (Paperback)
“What a bunch of environmentalist wacko nonsense! Ms. Morrison is over the top. Of course recycling is a necessary thing, however, we didn’t crawl out of the sea and evolve from apes. This book starts out very depressing, going on about what a state the earth is in. This is not a book for any parent wishing to teach their child(ren) about God’s creation of the world. Yuck! Ironically, the trees cut down to print this book could have been much better served.”

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t also get a real kick in the pants out of this comment addressing Ms. Poppins’ review:

Initial post: Jan 23, 2012 12:41:37 PM PST
Anna M. Lightenberg says: “Oh, yes, by all means, let’s not teach our children things like reality, and facts. Let’s just stuff their heads full of superstition and fantasy. Really? I don’t understand when religious people morphed into these wacky anti-science people. Guess this will just be one more way that evolution will thin the herd, when the under-educated, magical thinkers die off. Sad, because when I was a kid the religious schools cranked out the best science students.”
What she said. 🙂

I can’t watch this without crying. 100 Good Wishes Quilt – The Virtue to Sustain Love and Environment.

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I decided to illustrate Long Live Earth with fabric scraps because quilting is an age old form of recycling.  For whatever reason I tended to think of quilting as mainly an American labor with images coming to mind of bonneted pioneer women, log cabins and Pa Ingalls in his red long johns. In reality this couldn’t be further from the truth.  The earliest known quilt dates back to the Pharaoh of the Egyptian First Dynasty, about 3400 B.C.

The other day I stumbled upon this little movie short called 100 Good Wishes Quilt – The Virtue to Sustain Love and Environment which I can’t seem to watch without crying.

In northern China there is a centuries old tradition of creating a “Bai-Jia-Bei”, otherwise known as a “100 Good Wishes Quilt”.  One hundred family and friends donate a piece of fabric along with a written wish. The wish can be anything: a quote, a poem, a saying or a simple wish from the heart.  The fabric scraps are then stitched into a quilt by the child’s mother or another elder and given to the child along with the wishes.  The quilt literally wraps the child in good wishes and represents the virtue to sustain love and environment.  The Bai-Jia-Bei is then passed down through the generations.  Isn’t that beautiful?

 

Long Live Earth’s Amazon Top 50, Vine Voice, 5 Star Review *****

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Page-26-BigHeartI am feeling very humbled.  Twenty years on I had hoped that people would still be appreciative of the topical message and patched up illustrations of Long Live Earth’s Anniversary Edition.  But I never expected reviews like these last few.  Here is the most recent review from a true blue Top 50, Vine Voice Amazon reviewer.  Wow.  Many heartfelt thanks to L.M. Keefer:

*****5.0 out of 5 stars 
Charming, Colorful and Creative Book for Children on Caring for the Earth,
December 10, 2013
This review is from: Long Live Earth (Paperback)

If you are looking for a charming, colorful and creative book to teach children about taking care of our earth, this book delights. The illustrations embody the philosophy: they are quilt squares, making use of unused fabric. Each illustration is imaginatively conceived and stitched. Children will have fun talking about what they see in the squares. The illustrations are quite winsome.

The book is brimming with actionable ideas on what children can do to take care of our beautiful earth: waste less, use non-chemical sprays, don’t litter, take the train or bus when you can, plant a garden, recycle etc. The book can be a catalyst for an adult to think together of ideas with a child on how to take care of the earth. It would also be wonderful in a classroom to think of a class project on how they can care for the earth. Then, for an art activity, the students could create a patchwork square of their own out of collage materials to illustrate something they love about the exquisite earth that is worth preserving. The squares could be placed together on a bulletin board. When I taught preschool and elementary classes, I would ask design stores for any leftover wallpaper books and use the wallpaper for art projects as the wallpaper was patterned like fabric but could be glued instead of stitched.

For parents who care about cultivating a care for the earth in their children, this book enchants. It has depth. The author wrote in the forward that some years ago she was looking for a book to teach her son care for the earth. When she couldn’t find what she was looking for, she wrote this book and stitched the quilt squares. She has designed textiles for the home furnishings industry, exhibited her award winning art internationally and studied art at Parsons School of Design and Boston University. The art is truly fetching. Quilters and home schools would appreciate this book, too.

Honored to be receiving such kind reviews…

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Jan GreeneNov 18, 2013 Jan Greene rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommends it for: Parents and teachers of kids K-5.

A great book to remind kids about caring for the environment. The quilted artwork is pretty incredible too! I will read this to each of my grandchildren.

I thought this book was very cute and helps raise good points on what we can do to help our environment and world. It is easy for a child to understand how they can help. I cannot imagine how long it took to make each quilt square. The amount of detail is unbelievable. I am very honored to have received this since it was out of print for so many years. I am glad that it is back in print because this is a topic that we should be teaching our children today.

GIVE YOUR KID A STICK FOR CHRISTMAS.

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project wild thing

Or maybe a rock.

Whether in our heart of hearts or the deepest darkest Peru of our subconscious we all know that the omnipresent ambush of technology is not doing our kids any favors.  Sure they can Tweet at 6 and Vine at 9 and do god knows what at 12 but the more important question is what are are they not doing… getting dirty? Mucking around?  Taking direction from no one and nobody while spontaneously connecting with the planet on which they live?

This Christmas take a cue from Project Wild Thing created by David Bond, self-appointed Marketing Director for Nature. Unplug  your kids and throw throw them out the door.  You’ll be glad you did.  And so will they.

Check out at the Kickstarter video (below) to get the gist though happily their documentary was fully funded on December 6.  Now all we have to do is get our lazy butts in front of the film.

TATA MADIBA (NELSON MANDELA) 1918-2013

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“There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.”
  –  Nelson Mandela

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Nelson Mandela enjoying his 89th birthday celebrations at the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund in Johannesburg. Photograph: Denis Farrell/AP

http://www.nelsonmandelachildrensfund.com/

Charles Darwin’s BFF – A Paper Puppet Animation of A.R. Wallace

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Speaking of evolution (see yesterday’s post “Evolution as Historical Fiction?” ) I think we’re all familiar with the term Darwinism.  But have you heard of Wallacism?  Nah, me neither. Probably because I just made it up.

Most of us automatically equate evolution with Charles Darwin, or Darwinism.  We do not equate it with his determined, humble, largely forgotten and charmingly generous friend A.R. Wallace.  In fact, most of us have never even heard of A.R. Wallace.  Or Wallacism.  Again, probably because I just made it up.

All the more reason to watch this quirky paper puppet animation celebrating Wallacism and the life and adventures of the other father of evolution.  That was the third reference to the term Wallacism which now makes it an officially coined phrase.  Maybe.  I don’t know if it actually works like that.  I just made that up. Sometimes it’s just easier to make things up than to go to the trouble of proving every little thing. Thankfully, Darwin and Wallace went to the trouble.  They did not deal in fiction or make things up.

Speaking of fiction and making things up, let’s hope Amazon has not lumped Darwin (and Wallace’s) The Origin of the Species into their prehistoric fiction category alongside Long Live Earth.  But if they did I hope it also made it into the top 100.  I think.  :-/

BY FLORA LICHTMAN AND SHARON SHATTUCKNovember 4th, 2013 from the New York Times.